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I just now realised I'm less than a month away from my birthday, hurray!

So I thought I could move one step further and start expanding my "bag of kites" (currently I only have only two so, more than a "bag of kites" I have "two kites in a bag...")

I was thinking I could get me a UL or an SUL to be able to fly in days when wind is scarce.

I currently have a Soul but I've read it is hard to get a UL Soul.

So I was thinking on getting the UL (or SUL) of another type of kite; but which!?!?

I will involve all my family in this "co-operative" birthday gift so I guess price could go up to $300 (or a bit more if needed).

I'm only doubtful about one point. I have the impression that if you are used to flying a std kite the UL (or SUL) should be of the same type. So I don't know whether I'll be doing a silly thing by buying a different type UL/SUL kite.

+1 for the Shadow, it's a great kite for the money and will fly from a genuine 1.5 mph, great chill out kite. Loves the rotational stuff but yoyo's need a certain touch. It can be a bit twitchy compared to a standard kite and needs a light touch to get the best from it.

One tip if you get one, rub a little bees wax on the bridle knots as the bridle is made from dyneema flying line and the knots can slip.

The Shadow is definately a proper UL and near a SUL, I regularly fly mine in 2mph or maybe a little less and I fly inland. There are kites that will fly lower but the problem you can get with very light SUL's is that they can be difficult to trick because of their lack of weight. They can also be rather fragile using expensive superlight spars. The Shadow is very tricky for it's weight and the frame is 4mm pultruded carbon and DT12, it's also pretty tough, I've only broken one spar in 3 years and I didn't notice that until the end when I packed up.

I don't know what the JJF will do, but the Shadow will certainly fly lower than the Silver Fox UL which is more of a light standard. Just remember flying SUL's is a very different technique to flying standard kites.

Higher winds? well there a lot of vented kites out there but while the venting can take a lot of the pull away it can also effect the performance of the kite. Some folks prefer a standard with some sort of wind brakes on them, other use a Revolution.

If the wind gets really silly then I just hook up the Delta Hawk to a set of 35m 110kg lines and hang on!

So, it seems the Shadow is the one, I guess. Although I don't like its pattern and colors much, but I'm learning that "looks" are less important than "flies"...

Hadge I didn't express myself correctly. When I said a higher end kite I didn't mean higher end in the wind range (so not a vented) but rather higher price range but still referring to a UL (although I take good note about the HQ Delta Hawk ).

So in this regard, KO, what would be "a lot more" in price and which UL kites would those be?

Thanks!

N.

Perhaps I could post a "Wanted" here in the forum and get a second hand UL? (what do y'all think?)

Hadge I didn't express myself correctly. When I said a higher end kite I didn't mean higher end in the wind range (so not a vented) but rather higher price range but still referring to a UL (although I take good note about the HQ Delta Hawk ).

So in this regard, KO, what would be "a lot more" in price and which UL kites would those be?

Thanks!

N.

Sorry, I misunderstood you there. There are some really nice UL's out there and others can probably advise you better than me, but the Talon UL is supposed to be a very nice tricky kite and The Fearless has a lot of fans too. Maybe some of the others can give you a few more to think about but for performance/price the Shadow is hard to beat.

( By the way the Delta Hawk doesn't trick, but it's a lot of fun when the wind is howling!!)

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